Biting

[TicTacZebra]

My 5 month old DS is nearly 6 months old. His first tooth came through 2 days ago and I'm so sore from all the biting already.

Even before he started teething, he would bite me with his gums which was painful enough. I say 'no!' when he does it, but he just laughs at me. I dread to think how painful it's going to be when the tooth is fully through. Is there anything I can do? Tia

Sorry about the weird first sentence. My DS is 5 months. 6 next week.

When I read about this (Dr Google!) I picked up 2 things:

1. Scream when they bite, I think the idea is to scare them out of doing it?
2. If they bite and you want to get them off, push them IN towards the breast, so they have to open their mouth and let go so that they can breathe ;) This sounds harsh - obviously I don't mean suffocate the baby - but if you pull back, it's going to hurt a LOT as they'll still be biting, so you push in to make them stop!

I hope this helps? My 10 month old bites Occasionally, but I do scream! :o I think it helps put her off...

Kellymom.com has some good tips

Oh I've just had the same problem! Thankfully my DD stopped after a few weeks, and that seems to be the norm from what I hear.

Anyway, this is a really useful source of advice kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/biting/

I tried not to yelp or shout (not easy though!) as it scares some babies and puts them off feeding, while others like your DC find it funny and do it even more. I would just say 'no biting.' and cover myself up and make her wait a few moments. Everyone told me to offer her a teether instead when she bit, so she'd learn to bite that. I never had one to hand, so I bought a nursing necklace off etsy and when she went to bite me I'd take her off and offer her that instead.

A friend found that putting a little bonjela on her baby's gums before the night feed stopped biting too.

Good luck! Hopefully it won't last long :)

Thanks for the advice. Kelly mom has some good tips I'm going to try too. DS doesn't like having things put to his mouth though. He only bites things if he's put them in his mouth himself if that makes sense?

I'll try taking him off and sitting him up for a minute next time he bites. I never had this with my DD, so biting is new to me!

Hmmm, maybe you could just have a teething toy in your pocket that you hand him? Or attach it to you on one of those clips? I attach a mini sophie giraffe to me that way for DD to chew when she's in the sling. Then you could just hold it out to him when he bites, and he can choose to take it and chew it? Even if he doesn't, i guess you'd still be giving the message of 'no, this is for biting, not me!'